ON the right bank of the river Pau, in the South of France, is a little town of about six thousand inhabitants. A hill rises above the town, crowned with the ruins of an ancient castle, and from these ruins we may have a beautiful view of the valley below, with the winding stream, and the Pyrenees in the background'.
But it is not to visit the old castle that the many trains convey crowds of visitors to the little town of Lourdes. It is towards a grotto in the rocks by the river side that the pilgrims to Lourdes direct their steps. At the side of this grotto, which is closed in by an iron grating, stands a statue of the Virgin, placed on a piece of projecting rock. A miraculous rose-bush grows beneath it. The statue is clothed in white, with a blue scarf. Within the grotto may be seen waxen hands and arras and feet, and wooden crutches hung upon the rocky walls.
To the left of the grotto is a spring, the water of which is drawn off by taps in the wall, which conceals it. Not far from the grotto is a panorama of the apparition. What apparition? It is this apparition which is the explanation of the crowds who flock from the station on summer days—not only from the ordinary trains, but from special trains heavily laden with the sick and infirm, with friends who accompany them, and with tourists sound in limb, who are drawn by curiosity to see the scene of the apparition, and the cures per formed by the Virgin, through the means a the sacred fountain of Lourdes.
The apparition was seen in the year 1858; by a little peasant girl, thirteen years old; called Bernadette. No less than eighteen times, said the little girl, did the Virgin Mary appeal to her at the mouth of the grotto. She was dressed in white, with a blue scarf, and she commanded that a sanctuary should he built to her at that place, and that it should be a place of prayer for the faithful.
A church was therefore built above the grotto with the miraculous rose-bush. A branch railway was constructed to bring the pilgrims who should come to pray and to be healed. A bottling establishment was formed to send far and wide the waters of the sacred spring. For the clergy of the neighborhood had decided that little Bernadette had really been favored by visits from the Virgin herself, and that her behests must be carefully obeyed. They carried the matter before the Bishop of Tarbes, who having, as he said, “weighed it in the balance of the sanctuary," declared it to be an authentic miracle.
We cannot now ask little Bernadette what it was which led her to relate these wonders, for she was sent to a convent, where she died. Nor should we venture to ask why the bishops and priests of the neighborhood prefer the waters of Vichy and Bagneres as a cure for their ailments, to the sacred fountain of Lourdes! But they will tell us, without our asking, that many great and wonderful miracles are still worked almost daily upon the sick and infirm who come to drink of the holy spring and to worship before the statue with its white dress and blue scarf.
It was on a summer's day some years ago, when one of the great pilgrimages was over, that the pilgrims collected for a parting act of worship in front of the grotto. The priests who stood by, then called upon any who had been healed by miracles to stand forth and give their testimony. “Is there no lame man who has cast away his crutches because he now can walk? Are there no blind men or women who will tell how the Holy Virgin has given them sight? Hark, my friends! there is one who will tell us." For a young man had suddenly climbed upon the rail with a radiant face. How well he looked! and how active he was!
“My friends," he said,” a miracle has been worked upon me, and I rejoice to tell it to you. But it is a greater miracle than those of which the reverend father has spoken. Friends, it is true that I was blind, and that now I see, that I was deaf, and that now I hear. But I was also dead, and I am now alive, and I shall be alive for evermore. ‘FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.' I was dead, dead in my trespasses and sins, and I looked up to Jesus, believing in Him who died for my sins on the cross. And He kept His holy promise, for when I came to Him He gave me the eternal life which I can never lose again. He has saved me, and healed me!”
But the voices of the priests rose loudly—"Pull him down, he is a Protestant, a heretic! “and the man who " had been dead and was alive again " was speedily dragged from the rail and hooted through the crowd of angry pilgrims.
Let the Virgin Mary heal lame feet and crippled hands, but let not the God of love and power raise from the dead the souls His Son died to save!
Beloved friends, all around you is this great miracle being worked by Christ at God's right hand. Every day are the dead raised, and the blind receive their sight, and the lame walk and this hand which now writes for you the true story of the miracle of Lourdes, is moved by the power of the Spirit who works in all who believe to will and to do of God's good Measure. Yes, in each one is a spirit working—either it is the Spirit of God, who leads he sons of God, or it is the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.
“You talk about the Bible," said a man, in mockery to our friend from Lourdes, “but you can't explain it. It is full of words that have no sense. Look here, the natural man!’ and the spiritual man!’ you can't explain to me what that means I am well aware. What is a natural man? and what is a spiritual man? tell me that."
“I can readily tell you," replied the man from Lourdes. You are a natural man, and I am a spiritual man. You see only with your natural eyes, and understand with your natural mind. I did the same till God the Spirit gave me sight and understanding, and now I see and know Jesus my Lord."
May God in His endless love work the miracle of miracles upon the dead who may read these words, and may they, too, come forth to bear witness to His almighty power, and His faithfulness and truth. For has not Christ said," This is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day?" Are these words true? Go to Him, and you will know, and another miracle shall prove that the river of eternal life flows still from the Rock that was smitten, from Him who is the fountain of living waters.
“Let him that is athirst, come: and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely."
F. P.